This past Wednesday, junior Rayan Noor was elected Student Body President for the upcoming 2026-2027 school year. After a challenging run-off against Callie Dempsey, Noor ultimately won the most student votes and will now take on the responsibility of representing the student body and working with the school to bring new ideas to campus.

“I’m very happy to be elected as the school president for the next school year and very grateful to get the opportunity to serve this community. The whole process from the campaign to the election was very challenging,” junior Rayan Noor said. “My friends and I had to work very hard to campaign and get votes because the other candidates were extremely competent and committed to winning. So it feels really good to have come out the winner of such a close election.”

As Noor mentioned, the election was no walk in the park. The other candidates were Jay Watters, Cooper Laliberte, and Dempsey, who challenged him in a run-off. Each of these candidates prepared for weeks for their campaign, and finished with promising speeches for the whole high school to listen to and cast their final votes.

“I have so much respect for the other candidates who ran for this position, and I feel like they all have traits that make them unique. I feel like what separates me from them is that, having lived in 4 different countries, I can connect with different types of people very well, and that makes me more approachable,” Noor said. “This is very important because I feel like the best way to make sure students are happy, and the culture keeps flowing through this campus, is to address their concerns and make Darlington a better place for them. I am ready to work myself into the ground to make Darlington a better place.”

While his personality and traits were a big part of why students voted for Noor, they also considered his ideas, which he outlined in his speech.

“I plan to keep bridging the gap between day and dorm students through more events and celebrations of the culture we have here at Darlington,” Noor said. “I would also like to work to see change in certain parts of life here at Darlington, such as WiFi past midnight for boarding students and more tiger days for all.”

Noor brought forth many pleasing ideas and propositions to the students during his speech. While the president has been chosen for the next year, underclassmen start thinking about whether they want to run for president in their junior year, too.

“For people who are thinking about running for Student Body President next year, I’d like to tell them to just do it. That’s what makes the difference between someone with goals or dreams and someone who accomplishes their goals or lives their dream,” Noor said. “The process will certainly be tough. I was not expecting the campaign to be as demanding as it was. However, it’s important to push through because their hard work will eventually pay off.”

Beyond offering advice for future candidates, Noor expands on his commitment to serving the school community this upcoming year.